Is it Friday yet? Is it July yet? This whole spending freeze is killing me and it’s only the 6th day of the month. Am I really expecting to not buy ANY clothes all of June? This is going to be rrrruff. I’ve basically just been lusting over everything I see on blogs and Pinterest and silently crying and closing my laptop. But I know I’ll appreciate it when I look at my checking account in a couple weeks and I actually have money! Yay for money! As promised, I’ve put together a couple of my favorite reads for you to check out. I highly recommend all of these, and hope you can find the time to get lost in at least one of them this summer.

Let me start off by saying this book is long as shit. Like seriously, I think it might be longer than the Bible but it’s definitely worth every page. Based on the true story of the author’s life (with some embellishments), the book takes place in Bombay, or present day Mumbai, where a convicted bank robber/drug addict escapes an Australian prison and flees the country. From there we follow his life. Falling in and out of love, selling drugs and passports, working as a Bollywood producer, living in the slums as the acting doctor, to fighting in wars. I can’t begin to tell you how incredibly interesting this man’s life was. The characters are developed so well it’s like you know them. I cried a few times and laughed a few more. Wonderful book if you have a lot of time on your hands.

2. The Snowman by Jo NesboI commented on this one in yesterdays post. I just recently read this while I was in Cabo in March and couldn’t put it down. The first snow has fallen and a woman goes missing. Soon there after we find more and more women missing and turning up dead. Harry Hole is on the case. Again, very well developed characters that keep you flipping the pages to know what the hell is going on because there are definitely enough twists to make you wonder if you’re still following the storyline properly! If you liked Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, definitely pick up this book.3.The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth SteinHello tearjerker. So when I first heard that the book was narrated by a dog, I was skeptical, obviously. But as soon as I started and got used to it, I loved it. Enzo tells us the story of his owner Denny, a racecar driver, and his family. We see it through different eyes, get a different perspective on his story. Incredibly funny, I found myself laughing out loud more than a couple times, that crazy Enzo! But I also found myself silently weeping to myself, so just beware this is a tear jerker for sure, especially if you love dogs. I think that every dog owner should read this book too, makes you wonder what those guys really think about us! 4. Gone Girl by Gillian FlynnI know that everyone and their mother has probably read this one, but in case you haven’t, do it. I think I was one of the earlier people to read this and I literally had to stop myself multiple times from trying to talk about it with people that were still on Part 1 or hadn’t even started it yet. Basically, Gillian Flynn is a genius. Or a psycho. One of the two. Read this book, I don’t even want to tell you anything else about it. 5. The Glass Castle by Jeanette WallsI read this book probably three years ago and I think I want to read it again because I don’t remember a ton from it besides that I flew threw it because it was so good. It’s another story based on the authors upbringing with some pretty whacky parents. It definitely made my appreciate my own parents a lot more, I can tell you that much. I mean, they were basically nomads, throwing their kids in the car and moving to the next down without missing a beat. The mother had mental issues to some degree and the father was an alcoholic. How the kids dealt with and conquered was really amazing and made you want to cry and cheer at the same time. Half Broke Horses is the follow up to this one, I still haven’t gotten to it but it’s on my list. 6. White Girl Problems by Babe WalkerThis book is a quick and hilarious read. I was dying laughing throughout the entire thing. I’d bring it to the gym with me and read on the treadmill and would have to jump onto the sides because I’d be laughing to hard to actually run. Babe Walker is a funny, witty bitch who just wants to tell everyone how awesome she is. And after reading the book, I agree with her, even though I shouldn’t. I mean this is her actual twitter description“I’m Babe Walker. I wrote a book. It’s about me. Buy it here.” And homegirl’s got like 810,000 twitter followers. Like, for real, she’s fucking funny. She loves smoothies and hates her mom. If you want some light reading and a good ab workout from laughing too hard, this is your book.xo.

With summer right around the corner, I wanted to make sure that my Kindle was stocked and ready to go. I’m not one to stick to one type of book, I really can get into all sorts of different genres sans science fiction. I do not consider Hunger Games or Harry Potter science fiction, for the record. So I downloaded a couple different types of books that should hopefully get me through the summer. I haven’t started any of these yet so I can’t really give too much info besides what Amazon tells me. I could just rewrite the descriptions and hope you didn’t notice but even three years out of college I know that’s basically still plagiarism. So I’ll just link you and you can read for yourself. I will tell you this though – The Redeemer is the most recent release in Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole novels. Stop right there, I know what you’re thinking. The books are translated from Norwegian and it’s actually pronounced Hooley, so your mind can exit the gutter now. Anyway, they’re basically just as riveting as Steig Larsson’s trilogy except without the boring stuff like four straight pages of what Lisbeth Salander ordered from IKEA. Which in turn meant, I literally could not put down the last book, The Snowman. Twist after turn, there is never a lag. Now that The Redeemer has just been published (at least in America, it may have been around elsewhere for awhile based on review dates) I know that’s probably the first one I’ll be diving into.

Big news friends, reeeal big news. Well, possibly just for me, but it’s big nonetheless. Jimmy Eat World leaked their new album, Damage, yesterday on facebook. They did some real weird shit where you had to like, tweet about each song and check the “forecast” of that song being unlocked on your phone. It was weird and kind of annoying since basically you were promoting something you hadn’t even heard yet, but whatever. I just waited a couple hours and the entire album was unlocked and they just provided a link. And now I’m providing it for you. Which means today is a double playlist day! You get that one, and then also mine, which in celebration of this leak, if you can call it that since they leaked it themselves, is all of my favorite JEW songs! Hurray! In case it wasn’t obvious, I’m a real big Jimmy Eat World fan. Yes, they do in fact have more songs than “The Middle” that was overplayed an outrageous amount in 2001, so give em a listen, I think and hope you’ll realize you’ve been missing out! listen to Damage here

Fun fact, I went to see them play at the Metro in Chicago on my 18th birthday and unfortunately was kicked out before they even took the stage. Note to 18 year old self who had never been to a real concert, don’t bring alcohol into the venue in a gatorade bottle, you will get caught and miss the show. (Sorry Mom!) Luckily I was able to see them again at the Riv a couple years ago, and they’ll be back again in August, I CANNOT wait. listen to my favorite jew tracks here